veghippy hero / December

Hillery Duran!

This month's veghippy hero is the manager of Red Willow Farm in Taos Pueblo, NM. Hillery has become a bridge for old and new, young and old, by continuing a legacy of food, farming, and education in her community. She has an inspiring story to share with us about her experiences growing up learning traditional agricultural ways. Check out our interview below!

Sunshine: So Hillery, can you tell us a little bit about the history of Red Willow Farm?

Hillery: The farm was officially added to the Red Willow Education Center (2003) in 2007. When this land was for sale, there were 2 people who had the same dream to establish a place where the community can come together and give a place for the youth to gain skills for the future. When these 2 people came together, they bought it! When the farm was built they started a co-op, the Taos Pueblo Red Willow Co-op, and they started networking with different farms and applying for grants to buy these two greenhouses which are right behind me now. Actually, one of the founders is my mom. I'm happy to continue her legacy and I think she's happy to know that I still work here too.

Sunshine: When did you start working here?

Hillery: I started here in 2006 when the building for the farm was in its beginning stages. They had different classes for high school students that taught traditional agricultural techniques used in the Pueblo. That's how I first got involved, through school.

Sunshine: And what is your position at the farm now?

Hillery: Before, I was just working here, pulling weeds, planting, farming basically! But now my title is farm manager, which involves all the number crunching and everything that comes with running a business. I'm learning a lot, like learning when to say yes and when to say no, how to negotiate with people and such. Sometimes it's a lot of pressure. Luckily I have a lot of help so it makes me feel better. Bill Brockbrader has been helping me a lot, being my right hand man, my handyman. Cause to be honest I don't personally know how to fix broken windows or how to fix...anything else that goes wrong! The site had a few issues when we started growing this winter. The pumps shut off and the plants froze. Then we had to replant everything all over again (sigh). It get's crazy sometimes!

Sunshine: Oh no! But I noticed the Farmer's Market still kept on! You're doing a great job Hillery.

Hillery: Yes, well I'm proud to say that the Red Willow Farm has a year-round market. We are one of the few farms in the Taos area that grow crops even during the winter time.

Sunshine: What's it like to run the Farmer's Market?

Hillery:  It's really neat to grow in the winter time. Inside the greenhouse its about 75degrees and then you go outside and there's a couple feet of snow on the ground! The farmer's market started in 2010. Back then we had a lot more farmers than we do today. Unfortunately, one of our struggles now is finding farmers in our community who still grow food and still believe in growing their own food. We've had such a loss of that since I started. Before, we had about 9 different vendors. They were all older members of the community and they did farming in the traditional way like using the sequias, the ditch water that we get on the Pueblo. There are a few that have passed away already. Now only about 5 of the original farmers are still here and still part of the co-op. Out of that, only 2 of them still sell their produce with us.

Sunshine: Hillery, can you give us some perspective on what makes Red Willow Farm so unique?

Hillery:  With everything we do here, we pull our traditional agricultural ways that we've known forever and mix it in with modern day technology like the heating system, the irrigation system, and the solar panels. In 2011 we got the garn and we have solar panels that powers our buildings.. It's great to be running in a sustainable way. 

The diversity of people that this farm brings is also very special. We have many people who come out and volunteer. A lot of people from town come to our market, although we're trying to get more people out here and connect with them. Many of the youth that start out with us end up coming back years later. I think it's awesome that the kids enjoyed working here so much that they come back.

Sunshine: Can you share more about how the greenhouses are heated?

Hillery: Yes. In the east greenhouse, there are 2 barrels with fans inside which sucks up the hot air during the day, and at night it releases the heat into the ground. There are also another set of pipes that run under the greenhouse which is moderated by the garn. Now, what the garn does is it circulates 3300 gallons of heated water to create radiant floor heating. In the west greenhouse, it's a little different due to the scale of the greenhouse. It is a lot bigger in there so there are larger pipes to encompass the entire space. The garn also provides the hot water to the Farmhouse as well, which is all wood-fired heat. We build a fire 2-3 times a day and the tank temperature is kept to 120-160Degrees during the winter. We get our wood from members of the community, or sometimes the ward chief's office brings wood over for us if they have to cut down any trees. It's great because when the fire gets to the high temperature, it becomes smokeless. It's called "gassification." The smoke was a concern for us because we were worried about creating harm to the environment. But it's eliminated due to that process. We also make sure to use wood that hasn't been stained like Elm or Pinon or Red Douglas Fir.

Sunshine: Hurray! Thank you! Now, education seems to be very intertwined with the farm. What kind of programming do you offer for the youth?

Hillery: Working with kids and teaching them is probably the most fun part of my job. Each year, I hire 6 Greenhouse Interns to work with me. It's a paid internship. During the school year, they come in from 3:30p - 5:30p in the afternoon. But this coming year, we got some more funding so I can hire 12 kids now! They are usually kids from the Pueblo. In the summer, they're here a lot longer from 8:00a - 12p. I take them around to neighboring farms in the community to show them who is growing what, and to give them a sense of mentorship among the elders. This way, they can know who else they can go talk to if they have any questions about farming. It also offers them an opportunity to do different kinds of farm work. We keep them pretty busy. They help us harvest for the market, and while they're weeding we teach them about the plants that are growing. A few of them help us with marketing too. Last week they came to the radio station to do some advertising. We've also done programs with Headstart, and we have an entrepreneurial program in its pilot stages right now for the older kids (age 18-30). As you can tell, we definitely keep the youth involvement strong here.

Sunshine: How did you get into farming Hillery?

Hillery: My grandparents were farmers. My family would always be involved in planting or fetching water from the sequias. I grew up with it in my life so going into college, I applied for a work-study internship through Stem which focused on agricultural work and studying the plants in the area. I didn't really know what I wanted to do at that time but then I ended up interning here at Red Willow for a year and a half. After that I just kept coming back, checking in, even though I wasn't working there anymore. When I graduated, I got a call from Ryan, the other founder of Red Willow Farm, and he asked me if I wanted to work here full time. I live like right across the street so I literally ran over to meet him and the journey started from there. Me and the manager - who actually turned out to be my cousin Angelo - redid everything. It was exhausting because doing all this stuff just between the two of us was very difficult. We implemented the internships and extra farm help after that, especially during peak season!

Sunshine: What do you enjoy most about farming?

Hillery: I enjoy the freedom I have working outside or in the greenhouses. I love being with everyone here, helping each other, teaching the kids. I love learning what we can still do with our land, and working with everyone to build a healthier and happier community!

Sunshine: Anything we can look forward to for the future of Red Willow Farm?

Hillery: Oh my gosh, I am so excited for the Spring. I've already been planting. As far as produce goes, we'll have spinach, kale, swiss chard, and hopefully my tomatoes will make it through the winter! There's gonna be a lot of new activities like beekeeping, and installing our flower garden. I'm really interested in connecting with a wellness center for people with diabetes or cancer because I believe a healthier diet can help people. I'm gonna do some research for that over the winter and see what we can get started this coming year.

Sunshine: Can you give us some inspirational words before we part? :)

Hillery: It's only up to you, yourself as a person, to take a good step towards the future and a better stronger community.

Red Willow Farm

885 Star Road

Taos Pueblo, NM

87521

If anyone is interested in volunteering at the farm - even if it's just for 30minutes - the Red Willow Farm is always welcoming new people to learn and be a part of this blossoming community!

The Red Willow Farmer's Market is open every Wednesday from 10a - 5p, rain, sleet, or snow! Please go to www.redwillowfarm.com or LIKE the Facebook page [here] for more information!

veghippy heroes / November

Kyle and Jolene !

It's been a while, but the "veghippy hero" segment is back! This month, we have two incredible individuals with a vision to create an eco-village in Guatemala. I was lucky enough to meet them at Earthship Academy before they headed south on their journey across Mexico. I became very curious about their story when I found out they were driving a mini bus named"Lewis" that runs on vegetable oil... Check out our interview below!

Sunshine: So! Kyle and Jolene, can you tell us a little bit about your trip and what you're doing here?

Jolene: Well, basically, we're trying to transition into renewable and sustainably harvested energy. So driving our veg-oil bus is part of this transition. As you know, waste veg-oil is a way we can move around the country without using fossil fuel, and that's the biggest thing - no more fossil fuels for us. I went to the tar sands last year, and did a healing walk around one "tailing lake." It was huge, it took us 7 hours just to walk around one. I saw people dying and animals dying. I was like, this is just not a sustainable way of living, this is not right. We can't be taking something from the earth and killing people and animals. So that is how it started. Kyle and I have had a dream of traveling together for a while, and then this year we got a bus gifted to us from a friend.

Kyle: We've had a property in Guatemala for a couple of years and we've always wanted to get back to the land and live sustainably, support ourselves and grow our own food, so this trip has been a while in the making. We'd been planning to drive down with veg-oil and now it's finally happening! We're making a documentary about our trip too and we're stopping to visit different sustainable communities, and Earthship Academy was a big part of that. We're documenting what we're learning about and we're gonna try to put all these ideas into practice when we get to Guatemala.

(Photo by Kyle)

Jolene: We are looking to build an educational and healing center with Earthship principles as well as permaculture principles. The idea is that people can come and learn different healing modalities and find what suits them best to do their own healing, as well as learn to connect with the Earth again and build in a way that is not harmful - but in a kind way. We want to be able to teach people that and share that wisdom. One of the really big things that I'd like to do when we get there is if the locals are interested, show and share with them how to treat their own waste water so there's less pollution. Also, how to collect rainwater in an efficient way.

Sunshine: Amazing. That's a beautiful goal you both have! Now, you said your bus has a name... can you tell us about that??

Jolene: [laughter] Yes! His name is Lewis! He came with that name, and the people that converted him kept the name, because he was a bus from Lewis county. That's how he got his name and we decided to keep it going forward. We love it.

(Photo by Jolene)

Kyle: In fact, our whole project is called "Lewis and the Fireflies." Lewis is the bus and we are the fireflies! He's an old school bus that someone else converted. They "camperized" him into an RV and put the veg-oil system in. We inherited all that and we've just been learning how it works as we go. 

Sunshine: You've been on quite a long journey already! Where did you start? Where have you gone? And eventually you're headed to Guatemala right?

Jolene: Well, it started in Vancouver, in British Columbia. And that's where we kind of created the plan and got ready to take off. We had a fundraiser, we did an indiegogo as well as fundraising event - which was a lot of work but that's another story! [And then went across the border this April. We left him in storage all summer, then we went through Bellingham, different places in Washington, down through Oregon and California. We took some time to visit friends, or people who we'd like to refer to as family - family that you create...

Kyle: By the time we hit Northern California we had to go inland to make it to New Mexico for Earthship Academy so then we drove across a bunch of places we've never been before! Lake Tahoe, Nevada, Utah, Colorada, and eventually New Mexico.

And from here...well, where are we going from here?

(Photo by Jolene)

Jolene: We are heading to Arizona down to Mexico. When we're in Mexico we're hoping to stop at some sustainable communities to learn a little bit more. We want to see what people are doing to live off the grid, and to live in a better way, a kinder and gentler way with the Earth and all beings. We want to learn from them and capture that footage to share with others. Then we are headed to Belize for the winter. I will be teaching yoga and Kyle will be teaching sea kayaking for an eco-tour company. After that we have an opportunity to go to Jamaica as volunteers at a retreat center. The owner offered to teach me what I need to know about running a successful healing and retreat center which is our dream in Guatemala.

Kyle: Now, Lewis is not an aquatic bus yet...[Sunshine's laughter] When we head to Jamaica there's a pretty big ocean crossing there so we will leave him in Belize with some friends, but when we come back we'll get back on the road and head to Guatemala! [Jolene cheers] Lewis will be the first structure that we live in while we build other things on our land and farm.

Jolene: I think we're gonna have a workshop in May to start up the tire foundation and an adobe hut...

Kyle: Just down the road from us in Guatemala, is this place where they teach green building and they do super adobe and earth bags. They are doing all kinds of crazy stuff, like building temples out of earth bags! So we're gonna get in touch with them and we're gonna partner up and run workshops together.

Sunshine: Kyle and Jolene, can you share with us how the bus runs on veg-oil?

Kyle: Sure. Well, you have to have a diesel vehicle. Then, you get a veg-oil kit to convert it. You have a separate tank for the veg-oil, so the system becomes a hybrid where it runs on both diesel and veg-oil. When we start the car, we use diesel to warm up the engine to the right temperature, then we switch over to veg. It goes through a filter and the are lines connected to the engine. The mileage is about the same as diesel (about 9mpg with Lewis) and it is cleaner burning. Of course, with veg-oil you are not using "new" fuel, you are using up "waste."

Jolene: The process is a little tricky at first. When you collect "waste" vegetable oil, you have to filter it. You can get it from people who filter it for you too, and they usually charge but it's great to support people who are doing that.

To be honest, having a veg-oil vehicle is a clean way of traveling - but it's a messy ordeal! You get grease over EVERYTHING...

Kyle: If you think about restaurants and deep fried foods, and when you get that stuff on you...well veg-oil is that concentrated grease. So you just have all these buckets full of grease around you all the time. Thankfully we haven't spilled anything in Lewis yet, but it gets pretty messy.

We pour the grease from these buckets into our filter tank through a funnel on the back of our bus every few hours when we need to refuel. It could run on all different kinds of veg-oil. Some people have supplied us with soy bean oil and canola oil. Any kind of vegetable oil is compatible as long as it gets filtered so the water content evaporates.

Sunshine: How does it feel not to have to spend money on fossil fuel?

Jolene: VERY GOOD. When we are running on veg-oil it is very freeing. It's inspiring and empowering knowing that you don't have to use fossil fuel, knowing that you can live another way. Just like with Earthships, you don't have to go in just one direction.

Kyle: Yeah it's the same thing with Earthships. It's like, you realize, "Hey, I don't need fossil fuels to heat and run my home, I can do it in other ways!" Passive solar heating for example. 

Jolene: I definitely will say that I don't think running on veg-oil is the answer because there is just not enough waste vegetable oil in the world to power all the vehicles we have. But I think it's a great way to begin the transition into a more sustainable culture.

Kyle: We're not perfect but we're exploring fuel alternatives and just having fun along the way. We're trying to approach it with an open mind, and patience, and good humour. 'Cause stuff happens along the way and we'l be like "Shit! Well...cool!" We've been learning a heeeeck of a lot. Every time something goes wrong, it's a new opportunity to learn something. 

Sunshine: Have you had some ups and downs while on the road?

Jolene: Yes. Poor wiring is one...the electrician that worked on our bus originally miswired the switch board so we've had to deal with that! And then Lewis has broken down a couple times throughout our trip too.

Kyle: It's interesting, he's got a personality! He's held together with love and duct tape and whatever but...[Sunshine's laughter] Actually, the people who converted Lewis originally, they traveled aruond the country and made a documentary about urban farming. So Lewis has experience with documentary filmmakers. He's kinda guiding the process in some ways. 

Jolene: We're starting to say this motto: "Lewis always knows." 

Kyle: Lewis seems to know when we need to slow down or stop. For some reason he'll break down - for some "weird" reason. But then we'll end up meeting someone that we wouldn't have met otherwise who gives us another "piece to the puzzle." We'll run into someone who'll say "hey come stay here" and we get another adventure or lesson for our travels. Most of the time when he's broken down for a couple of hours have been the times when we needed to meet someone. So, Lewis has wisdom in that.

Jolene: He's part of the Divine plan!!! Sometimes I forget the Divine plan, and I get really frustrated and yell "LEWIS!!!" But then an hour later I'm like, "okay, that's why he did that..." [laughter]

Sunshine: I'm really excited for you both. The things you two are doing here with this veg-oil bus is just a great example of the kind of sustainable future we can all have. Do you have any inspirational words or recommendations for our audience before we finish?

Jolene: Believe in the beauty of your dreams, cause nothing is impossible. We ARE the change! Which means that making the change in yourself will lead to the change in the world around us.

Kyle: Sometimes it takes a leap of faith but when you get to the other side, it's totally worth it. And I just want to say thank you, Sunshine. It's been so good to share lessons and building with you for the last month.

Sunshine: [cheers and glows] Yaaay.

Love you two!! Be well and be safe.

To follow Kyle and Jolene on their epic journey to Guatemala...you can check out their website [here] or "LIKE" their facebook page.

Cheers to new friends/family =)

-PEACE*~!

veghippy hero / September

Ruth Harrigan !

This month's veghippy hero is the beautiful and extraordinary Ruth, creator of MEE Beauty line, mother of four, community leader and advocate for sustainable living in Queens NY, beekeeper, organic gardener and so much more. Her life is a huge inspiration to those searching for a more wholesome lifestyle, especially in the city! Check out the interview below!

Sunshine: First question - What is apiculture? Why do people farm bees?

Ruth: I think right now in the city, we started farming bees because of CCD, because we are losing a lot of bees each year due to Colony Collapse Disorder. We feel the need to bring bees back. We are doing it in our own way in the city, in a very small way, to make it aware to the public the importance of bees and why we need to keep them alive. We really need to keep them pollinating the food that we eat.

Sunshine: What are the benefits of beekeeping?

Ruth: One of the biggest benefits of bees is that they pollinate. That is their biggest role in our environment. About 70% of the food we eat is pollinated by bees. Without that, we wouldn't have the enjoyment of apples, strawberries, peaches, pears...I mean all the common fruits and vegetables that we eat would not exist. So it is so imperative that we keep bees alive. And at the end, they give us something back in return for all the good work we do [through gardening]. They give us honey! Which is a sweet thing.

Sunshine: Yes I agree!! Now, how did you start beekeeping? Where did you learn?

Ruth: I started about 5 years ago. I stumbled upon it because my daughter wanted a dog and I told her that we weren't ready for a dog, so we got chickens instead. In doing some research on how to raise chickens, I stumbled upon a petition to make beekeeping legal in New York City. I was very interested in it. I had never even thought of bees until then, so I looked into it and signed up for a course. I was completely fascinated by the whole beekeeping hobby. Soon after I finished the course, I bought 2 hives. And luckily, right at that time in March of 2010 beekeeping became legal in New York City.

Sunshine: Wow! What do you love most about beekeeping?

Ruth: I feel in my own way, that I am contributing to our environment. I am doing something good for our planet. It is so polluted right now. And everyone has to do their own thing to try to bring it back. It is very rewarding to know you are doing a small part. I also draw a lot of personal lessons from [beekeeping]. Looking inside of the hives, I see how the Queen Bee interacts with the rest of the hive body. It is very interesting how the worker bees are so loyal to their Queen and to their fellow housemates. They really protect each other and they share all the different tasks within the hive to make the whole thing work - very efficiently. Those are such basic lessons that we can all draw from to apply to our own personal lives.

Sunshine: Ruth, would you call yourself an environmentalist?

Ruth: I would love to be called that! I feel I could do a lot more but I'm striving for it. I mean in my own backyard, we don't use any pesticides or fertilizers, we keep chickens to manage the insects, we have a rabbit to give us manure to garden, and as much as we can, we grow our own vegetables. I want to pass that on to the kids as well. I think that it's all about awareness. If they are aware of where our food comes from and what we are doing to the soil,  I think it will open up their minds about what to put in the soil. You will be less inclined to put pesticides, knowing that it will end up in your food. I think that's what's lacking in general. A lot of people don't know about it and a lot of people are so quick to spray those bugs in the backyard with insecticide, not knowing that that's just going to leach into your plants. But going on...we have rain barrels out back so we catch 55gallons of rainwater. It helps me water all the potted plants in the backyard. Dollarwise, [the rainwater] doesn't save me that much, but in my mind, anything that I can do to keep my property natural as possible, make me happy and it feels very rewarding at the same time.

Sunshine: This seems to be the perspective you take to your product MEE Beauty, is that right?

Ruth: Yes. Again, even with the products that we put on our body, I look for ingredients that are as natural as possible. However, as with food, if you are going to use 100% natural products, the problem is that it's going to decay very fast. Realistically, you don't want to buy a cream that is very expensive and that's going to decay within two weeks. That would be the shelf life of anything that is natural. So you do have to put a minimum amount of preservative to make it last longer without harming your body. I always tell people, it's just like sugar. Sugar is a good thing. It's sweet, everyone loves it. But if you overdo it, even sugar can kill you. You can get diabetes. With these preservatives, yes if you take in a lot, it will hurt you. However, using the minimal amount for the purpose of preserving the product has very little effect on the body. In fact, the bacteria that is going to grow in a natural product may be far more harmful without it. So you kind of have to weigh the pros and cons of the ingredients. But we try to go as natural as possible.

Sunshine: When did you start your Beauty line?

Ruth: It started about 2years ago, right after I got laid off with my job in finance on Wall Street. I had decided that that was like my opportunity to do something on my own. Instead of going back into finance, I decided I was going to try to launch my own business by combining honey, that is, my hobby of beekeeping, with a product line that I love. So I started working with a lab, and we came up with all the different formulas for lip balms and body lotion. My key ingredient is honey because honey is a natural moisturizer, and it links to beekeeping. I've done a lot of tests on the product, it felt really good on my skin. Uhh, I didn't test it on any animals, I tested it on myself so there's no animal cruelty here! [Sunshine's laughter] I tested everything on my own skin and of course on my family as well. So if there wasn't any reaction on them and everything was all good then I approved the formula! [more laughter from Sunshine!]

Sunshine: That's great. What can we look forward to either with MeeBeauty or your Honey Line?

Ruth: Well, this Fall, I'm going to be launching 2 new products and they're both going to be for babies. It's going to be called "BabyMee." I'm gonna start with a body wash for babies. It's a body wash / shampoo combination and a very gentle body lotion for babies. Both are fragrance free and of course, only pure honey is added to those products.

Sunshine: Wow, are the honey in your products right out of your own hives?

Ruth: I would like to! However I don't have enough from my hives so I do seek honey from other beekeepers that I know. I only put pure honey in my products so they will come from beekeepers that I trust and keep bees like I do without using chemicals nor additives in their honey.

Sunshine: You also mentioned you're gonna be teaching some classes throughout New York City soon?

Ruth: I'm hoping that once the contracts are signed, I will run a series of 2-hour "Intro to Beekeeping" courses. The first one will take place in Flushing, so I just have to wait until the use of the property get's signed off to run the class. Then hopefully there will be enough interest to keep the classes going into the Fall season.

Sunshine: Do you have any recommendations for people who are new to bees and beekeeping or for anyone who wants to start beekeeping on their own?

Ruth: I think that it's really helpful to read up on it. Taking a course is definitely recommended because there are so many different scenarios in the beekeeping yard. It's best to get a general overview of what to expect in the yard by taking a class before you embark on buying hives and trying to figure it out yourself. It is quite dangerous if you don't do it right. I took my first class through the New York City Beekeeper's Association. It was run through a course of 2 weekends, all day, and that was enough. You just want an overview of what to expect from the beginning of the season to the end. The rest is hands on. I would even recommend being an apprentice! It would give you a real good insight on beekeeping so by the time you start your own, you are confident going in there. Every season it changes, expect a lot of drama inside the hives!

It was such a blessing to interview Ruth for this month's veghippy hero. She is already a local name among the Queens community, as her story was featured in the prestigious New York Times, a short film project in the Tribeca Film Festival, as well as on SinoVision TV. You can purchase MEEBeauty Products at her Amazon store HERE. Thanks Ruth!!

-Peace*~!

Honey Day at High Line Park NYC

It's Honey Day !!

On Wed July 29th, High Line Park hosted a "Honey Day" event. From 2-7pm Beekeepers from across the New York State area presented their local honey to the public. The vendor lineup included: SkylineHoney, Andrew's Local Honey, The Brooklyn Grange, Mike's Hot Honey, and Ruth Harrigan's Honey / MEEBeauty products, to name a few.

 

While I was there, I got to learn a whole lot about bees and beekeeping! Here are some interesting facts I picked up that day^.^

• The place where bees are kept and farmed are called Apiaries. The process of beekeeping is called apiculture.
• Bees prefer to keep their hives in quiet areas away from humans to protect their Queen and their honey - that is why city rooftops have proven to make great Apiaries!
• The color of honey is dependent on the type of seasonal flowers available. Light to golden-colored honey is harvested from Spring to Mid Summer. The bees pollinate flowers such as Linden in that time. The darker, brown-colored honey is harvested in Late Summer to Early Autumn which have pollen from Goldenrod and Clover.
• Honey is extracted from combs by centrifuge. The "frames" of honeycombs are placed into an extractor that spins the frame until honey is pulled out and drained into a container.

Ever since I watched the eye-opening documentary "Vanishing of the Bees," I have really grown to appreciate the presence of bees. Seeing the bees at Honey Day made me feel really happy. Nowadays, I feel less afraid of them and more appreciative of their existence. When I was very young I was stung by a bee - right on my poor chin! - during a school trip to the Queens Botanical Garden. From that experience I was traumatized and develop a big fear around them. As I grew up too, I was always given the impression that bees are dangerous, or that they are like pests. Bees would make their hives on the gutters of our old house, and my parents would violently spray them down with water to kill them. People around me would also be afraid of bees and run away at the very sight of them. As you can see, I grew up with a strong preconception about bees and was never educated about them until just recently. I truly had no understanding before about what they do besides sting people and make honey!

But bees don't just make honey! They pollinate 80% of flowering crops which includes the numerous fruits and grains that make up 1/3 of the staples in our diet. Bees are also important for livestock as they pollinate crops like Alfalfa feed for cattle. Strawberries, Apples, Avocados, Almonds, Cocoa, Coffee, Tomatoes, Carrot, Flax, even Cotton, and the list goes on, are all crops pollinated by bees both naturally and commercially. So basically, without bees, our entire agricultural system would come to an end.

And what I learned is that it's important to keep chemical pesticides OUT of our food, because bees are unable to withstand the effects of chemical treatment to crops. Upon direct exposure to pesticides, they immediately die. Over time, the bees that pollinate from treated crops also die, although at a slower rate. Chemical pesticides are a direct factor in the occurrence of "colony collapse" when thousands of bees abandon their hive and die. It is a really horrifying and sad situation as documented in "Vanishing of the Bees."

However, the good news is that backyard and city apiculture is helping the bee population regain their numbers, adding to the gene pool of healthy, disease-resistant bees! It also brings more awareness to the value of bees to the larger population who are now separated from methods of food production. Many of the local New York beekeepers at "Honey Day" started out as hobbyists themselves. Robert of SkyLine Honey in the Bronx, and Ruth Harrington of MEEBeauty in Queens, being great examples!

While though they are acting purely out to their own interest and passion for beekeeping, in turn, they represent a new movement that is helping our agricultural system, bringing forward a greater acceptance for an organic and sustainable lifestyle that keeps us close to a more harmonious way of living amongst the earth and our non-human friends.

A big HURRAY for Honey Day! 

Honey Day is an annual event hosted by High Line Park -  a beautiful reclaimed old railway track boasting lush gardens and unique public works in Manhattan. The event is also in partnership with the Brooklyn Grange, the world's largest rooftop soil farm located in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

More Information
How can you help the Bees? [PBS]

Vanishing of the Bees

NYC Beekeepers Association

MEEBeauty

SkyLine Honey

Brooklyn Grange